Graduate outside hitter Jaylen Jasper goes up for a kill against USC on March 9, at Firestone Fieldhouse. Jasper led the team with 19 kills. Photos by Brandon Rubsamen
No. 7 Men’s Volleyball left it all on the court Thursday night, beating No. 10 USC for three sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-19) at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves are now 11-8 on the season.
Graduate outside hitter Jaylen Jasper and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Joe Deluzio lead the Waves with 19 and seven kills each, respectively.
“We really just wanted to focus on serving, playing our game and giving ourselves a chance to blocking the defense,” Jasper said. “And I think we really did that tonight.”
The Waves started off neck-in-neck for the first set and were tied 9-9 early on.
After kills from Jasper. Deluzio and redshirt freshman outside hitter Kevin Roberts, the Waves pulled forward to establish a three-point lead, moments before USC called their first timeout.
The Waves continued to widen the gap, after impressive kills from Jasper and USC service errors, resulting in a 25-17 win.
Entering the second set, the Waves kept their urgency with back-to-back kills by Deluzio, sparking USC to call a timeout early in the game while the score was 7-2.
The Trojans attempted to catch up but couldn’t get further than a four-point lead. Junior middle blocker Anderson Fuller stepped up with two kills, putting the score at 19-13.
After another USC timeout, Pepperdine continued to keep a steady lead, with a final score of 25-15 to end the second set.
“When we can keep our serves and when we just play volleyball, we’re really good,” Jasper said.
The Waves came into game three with confidence, junior libero Trey Cole said, but still worked to maintain a steady game.
Jasper’s performance got fans to their feet midway through the set, with two consecutive kills, making the score 9-6.
After a USC timeout, followed by a USC service error, the Trojans continued to fall behind. The Waves ended the third set with 25-19, securing the win for the night.
“We played really well early on, so we put ourselves in a good position to make some mistakes — that’s going to happen eventually,” Cole said.
The Waves will play the Trojans again March 11, at USC.
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Contact Abby Wilt via Twitter (@abby_wilt) or by email: abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu